New video: Tomlinson told employee/ex-girlfriend she was 'getting paid a bunch of money to not do s**t' (VIDEO, UPDATED)

This story has been updated. A new one-minute video featuring Lorain County Prosecutor J.D. Tomlinson and his former employee and girlfriend Jennifer Battistelli in an argument appears to show the elected prosecutor telling her that she gets paid to do nothing in his office. The video was obtained Tuesday by The Chronicle-Telegram, the fourth such video showing arguments between Battistelli and Tomlinson that the newspaper has received since July 27. Battistelli's attorney, Kenneth Lieux, said he could authenticate the video and that it was taken by his client. He said he was not the one who released it. Battistelli "took that, it's in the possession of law enforcement and it speaks for itself," Lieux said. He said she "took these videos to protect herself." Battistelli said she had no comment on the video. "I don't know if I can comment on that tonight," Tomlinson told a reporter Tuesday when told a new video had been made public. Later in the evening, he sent a text: "This was just a disagreement over a work-related issue. I don't recall exactly what it was about. But Jenn was an exceptional employee. And she accomplished a lot for the office." The video obtained Tuesday shows Tomlinson standing in front of Battistelli on a concrete driveway. In the video, the two argue about goings-on inside the Prosecutor's Office. The lower half of Tomlinson's body is seen and the audio starts with Tomlinson demanding Battistelli not "insult us with the Heather thing." "Don't insult us, because you're insulting Jim, too. He's gonna know about that text," Tomlinson says. Who "Heather" is and what "text" Tomlinson is talking about isn't made clear. "Jim" appears to refer to Tomlinson's chief of staff, Jim Burge. "You can't get away with saying that stuff," Tomlinson says. "It's true! It's true!" Battistelli says, interrupting him. "Good, then you're going to describe it to Jim tomorrow," Tomlinson tells her. "I can tell him that," Battistelli says. "Good, good, good, you got plenty of balls," Tomlinson says. "The problem is, it ain't your office. The problem is, you didn't lock those doors. I did. And the problem is, you do whatever I say you do." "Now here's the problem: Why do you think you run s---?" he asks her. "I'm not thinking I run anything," she replies. Tomlinson then appears to tell Battistelli she's getting paid by his office to do nothing. "Here's what the thing this. Listen, Jenn. The truth of the matter is, there's a couple of things that are true," Tomlinson says. "I didn't (expletive), I can't believe as the boss, I'm over here trying to talk someone into a position that I have the right to tell them to do and she's getting paid a bunch of money to not do s---." "And I don't do s---? Oh my God, 'I don't do s---,'" Battistelli says, sounding sarcastic. "Jenn, come on, let's be real, are you doing a clerking job, are you doing sh-" Tomlinson says, his words interwoven with Battistelli's before the audio cut out. A Democrat, Tomlinson is running for a second term against Tony Cillo, a Republican and a former Tomlinson employee. Battistelli was Tomlinson's community outreach coordinator from January 2021 until she resigned in August 2023. In October 2023, she was paid a $100,000 taxpayer-funded employment settlement arranged by Tomlinson and approved by the Lorain County Board of Commissioners. What incident or behavior led to the settlement remains unclear. Resendez: I had no knowledge Tomlinson employee and Democratic candidate for sheriff, Rich Resendez, waded into the controversy Aug. 2 with an open letter saying what he knew or didn't know about Battistelli and Tomlinson's personal relationship. Resendez and Republican Jack Hall are running to replace Sheriff Phil Stammitti, a Democrat who is not running for reelection. In the statement posted to his campaign Facebook page, Resendez wrote that "neither I nor any other staff member was aware of the argument depicted in the initial video" in Tomlinson's office. "It has come to my attention that there are assumptions regarding the knowledge of these incidents among the staff at the Prosecutor's Office, including myself," Resendez wrote. He wrote that the argument in the video "was conducted in a manner intended to remain confidential," and that other videos that have surfaced appeared to have been taken at Battistelli's residence. "I was neither present nor informed about these personal matters between the two individuals," Resendez wrote. "To my knowledge, the relationship between Prosecutor Tomlinson and Battistelli was personal and did not involve any staff members of the Prosecutor's Office." "Any comments, insinuations, or opinions suggesting otherwise are untrue," Resendez wrote. Now Tomlinson's chief of operations, overseeing administrative staff in the Prosecutor's Office, Resendez said Tuesday he was only Battistelli's direct supervisor for "a couple months" during the two-and-a-half years she worked for Tomlinson. Resendez said he and other prosecutors' staff members believed Battistelli reported directly to Tomlinson. "At least that's what I understood and what the staff understood," he said. Resendez said Battistelli was an unclassified or salaried employee. His supervision of her was limited to approving her sick time, vacation time and requests for time off. Later, Resendez said she reported to Burge. Battistelli's community outreach assignments "were self-initiated or they came at the direction of Prosecutor Tomlinson. So my role and Jim Burge's role, our roles were more administrative on signing off on paperwork, payroll, that kind of stuff," Resendez said. Resendez said he never heard any complaints about Battistelli's work product or productivity and said she appeared to do her work even through a difficult time period — the COVID-19 pandemic, which Resendez said was "a roadblock … to community outreach." When she planned and held public events, "she did very well at those," he said. "At no time" while she worked there, he said, "was I ever informed" that Battistelli and Tomlinson were in a romantic relationship. "I work with J.D., I'm friends with J.D., but it's not like we socialize together. What he does in his private life is what he does, and what I do is in my private life is what I do," Resendez said. That didn't stop members of the public from accusing Resendez "of knowing things I had no knowledge of," so he wrote the Aug. 2 open letter, he said. "For the 100th time, I had no knowledge, no information, I didn't negotiate any payoff nor was I involved in any contract or any type of legal negotiations whatsoever" in the Battistelli affair, Resendez said. A captain at the Sheriff's Office until he was laid off in 2010 by Stammitti, Resendez said that agency had a "strict" nepotism policy: No relatives could be hired in the same unit, such as corrections or road patrol. "If you're asking what I would do as sheriff, I know that (nepotism) causes problems. It cause problems in discipline, in credibility and in structure," Resendez said. "As far as credibility goes, you have to be above that line and if you allow that to happen it erodes the other employees. It would be something (as sheriff) I would keep a tight finger on and address accordingly and in a timely fashion." Background Attorney James Barilla sued Tomlinson, the county, and the Board of Commissioners in Common Pleas Court in February for access to records related to the settlement after they were allegedly not handed over to him and his attorney, Jonathan Rosenbaum, as part of a standard public records request. The Chronicle also asked for and was denied access by Tomlinson's office to a "communication" from Battistelli's former attorney Jack Moran to Tomlinson. Its content is believed to include potentially embarrassing accusations that led to Battistelli's payout. Tomlinson has denied any wrongdoing and said he has released all the records, but his office fought in court to prevent the release of the "communication," saying it could harm his and Battistelli's reputations. Tomlinson likewise has blamed politics for the controversy: Barilla, Cillo and Rosenbaum are trying to to hurt him in an election year, he alleged. Stammitti's office, the Auditor of State and FBI are investigating Tomlinson, and Stammitti has asked visiting Judge Thomas Teodosio to appoint a special prosecutor and grand jury to aid in his investigation. Tomlinson has not been charged with any crimes, has denied any criminal wrongdoing, and has said he welcomes Stammitti's investigation. The first video, which was taken sometime in mid-2023, was made public July 27. It showed Battistelli and Tomlinson arguing in Tomlinson's office at the Justice Center. Battistelli alleges that Tomlinson smacked her in the face during this argument. Tomlinson has denied this. Multiple times since then, he has denied ever striking or hitting anyone. Two additional videos obtained July 29 by The Chronicle show Tomlinson and Battistelli discussing whether they had "put our hands on each other." In one of those videos, Tomlinson can be heard saying "I shouldn't have put my hands on you like that, either."Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.